Wood Working 101 - Lap Desk

   Several months back I received an e-mail that had a plan for what is called an "on-the-go" lap desk designed for kids.   In fact I was thinking that it looked like a project that one could work on with one of the grand kids someday.    Knowing that, I filed the plan away in a safe place thinking that someday I would want to access it whenever a grand kid would come and stay with us.    

  Last week was the time when it all came together.   Chad and Danae's four children came to our house and stayed with us for 10 days while mom and dad made a trip to Europe with Danae's parents to see Danae's brother and his wife.   (Chad and Danae's family live in Kasson, MN, which is about 150 miles away.   Also it is the home where the deck project was done on an earlier blog.)   Prior to the kids' arrival, I hunted for that "safe" place where I tucked away the lap desk plan.   (It always amazes me on how a place can be so safe that I can't find it when I need too.)    After much searching, I decided to hunt on the Internet and see if I could find the site again.   Luckily I did.   Below is the site if you are interested.

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-plans/furniture/lap-desk-for-kids/

   The plan calls for 1/2 inch thick lumber and nearly all lumber is 3/4 inch thick.   The other thing was that I wanted to make the project out of the maple wood that I had on hand which is from a tree that was taken off my father-in-law's farm.    The kids would be able to say that the wood came from their great grandpa's farm.   Before their arrival, I was busy planing the thickness of boards to 1/2 inch and cutting the bulk of the boards to dimension as per the specs on the plan.    During one visit this summer, I had forewarned them that they would be having school for an hour each day during their stay with grandpa.    I'm not sure what their initial thoughts were, but I could imagine.   When I mentioned that we would be working in the shop I think they were a little more excited.  (The parents maybe a little less excited.)

  Day one was spent sanding a lot of the boards that I had pre-cut.   (Everyone knows how I feel about sanding so let's make the kids do it.)   It was the first power tool that the kids got to run.    Each one went to the pile of pre-cut boards and selected the boards that they wanted to use for their own lap desk.     Four kids meant we were going to build four lap desks.    I had each put a little mark on their boards so if there was a mix up, they would know which boards were their boards.    Each put tape to mark which side of the board would be on the outside and which side would go to the inside.

     I had asked each of the kids to pack what we would call "Shop Clothes".     When we scheduled our shop time in the morning we would always dress in our shop clothes.    (That was the plan anyway.)    On the second day we temporarily assembled the box part of the desk and routered a slot so that we could insert a bottom.   We also cut the bottoms out of 1/4 inch plywood for each of the desk.    (Any thing that involved power tools with blades, grandpa always ran the tool.)   The kids teamed up and helped each other, but I have to say that everyone did his or her part.    At this time each chose which boards they would use as a lid for their lap desk.  

   By day four and five we started to assemble the individual lap desks.    Each drilled their own holes.   Each ran the power screw driver and screwed in their own screws during assembly.   Grandpa simply made the marks as to where to drill and tried to keep his fingers out of the way.  (Note the lack of eye protection in this picture.    I bet DAG's Wood Working 101 class could be in for some criticism.)     Each desk was starting to come together nicely.    A few errors would crop up every now and then, but that is part of working with wood.   (At least in DAG's shop anyway.)   

 
In the picture to the right, we are back to sanding the lids.   We are trying to get them as smooth as possible before assembly.    Each desk would have a lid that would flip up and down.    Each desk would have an area to store papers plus an area to store a pencil box.     The pencil box was made with magnets attached to the bottom so one could take out the pencil box and stick it to the top front part of the desk where we had placed some metal screws and it would stay there.   That was in case you were going down the road and hit a bump or something.   Each desk was sloped enough so that it was easy to write, color, or draw on comfortably.   (I might have to make one of these for myself someday.)

   Not all the work was with power tools.   There were times where assembly was made the old fashioned way using a hammer.    This plan calls for the insertion of a one inch long 1/8 inch thick brass rod through the side of the desk and into the lid.    This process acted as a hinge for the lid.  Once the rod was inserted into the wood, you would put a plug over the hole to keep the rod from coming out.      I had never done this before, but it seemed to work quite well.   When the lids were installed, we were up to day nine of their 10 day stay.    We slapped on a couple coats of varnish only to the outside.   (We just ran out of time.)



Dayton (9)                  Carter  (6)                      Whitney  (11)                           Breeanna  (13)

     Well above are the kids with their projects.    Each desk turned out really nice.      We averaged about an hour a day during their 10 day stay and all went really well.   (No fingers were accidentally cut off or wood splinters in the eye so that was great.)     We did have some time for fishing, miniature golf, county fair, and several other fun things so I did not totally bore them with shop stuff.   On the other hand, I think it was a good learning experience for the kids and I hope they will enjoy their little project.   (Grandpa sure had fun anyway.)